Hawaii Bed and Breakfast Broke The Law By Denying A Room To Lesbians

Taeko Bufford, left, and Diane Cervelli, right, pose near Waikiki beach in Honolulu. AP Photo/Eric Risberg The Aloha Bed & Breakfast broke the law when it turned away a lesbian couple from California because they were gay, a judge ruled in Hawaii.

Diane Cervelli and Taeko Bufford tried to get a room in the east Honolulu bed and breakfast while visiting a close friend and her newborn baby in 2007. The owner asked if they were lesbians after Cervelli said they only needed one bed. When Cervelli said they were gay, the owner said she didn't want lesbians in her B&B because of her religious views.

The owner later admitted she believed same-sex relationships were "detestable" and they "defile our land," Lambda Legal says.

The bed and breakfast's owner violated the state's public accommodations law, which says businesses that give lodging to travelers aren't allowed to discriminate based on sexual orientation, race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, or disability.

"When visitors or residents are subjected to discrimination, they suffer the sting of indignity, humiliation, and outrage, but we are all demeaned and our society diminished by unlawful discrimination," Hawaii Civil Rights Commission Executive Director William Hoshijo said.